Q & A With Coach: Ken Scalmanini – Men’s Basketball

Mar 21, 2013

At the end of February, head coach Ken Scalmanini and the
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men’s basketball team completed the
program’s 16th winning season in a row, 15th under his
leadership. During his 15 seasons as head coach, Scalmanini has led
CMS to six SCIAC titles, including four-straight from 2009-12.
“Coach Scali” as he is known, took a few minutes out of
his schedule to talk about the CMS men’s basketball program,
his playing days, the Pomona-Pitzer rivalry and life when he is not
coaching the Stags.

Each season it seems like the Stags are competing for a
SCIAC Championship and the program has had 16-straight winning
seasons. What do you attribute the success to?

Ken Scalmanini: We have great colleges and a great
product, so I am able to get some of the top student-athletes from
all over the country that fit what we are looking for. The typical
CMS student-athlete is one that is disciplined which is an
attribute that fits the basketball team’s style of play
nicely. Our success really comes from having a great product within
the CMS community.

What is the coaching philosophy that you have built the
men’s basketball program around?

KS: The guys on this team understand discipline so I
think year-in, year-out we defend pretty well. Usually we are one
of the top teams in Division III in defensive field goal percentage
and points allowed. The backbone is solid team defense, but the
motion offense is the tradition here. Coach Wells ran the motion
offense here as well before I did. It’s an offense that
allows a lot of freedom on the court. The combination of defense
and the motion offense that we play is fairly unique together.

Do you have any favorite moments or games during your time
at CMS?

KS: It’s always kind of nice beating Pomona-Pitzer
to be honest. Everybody is at the game and there is a lot more
attention around the game since it is such a big rivalry so the
whole community is involved. A few of those wins have been awfully
nice, especially the ones that were close games. Each year there
have been some memorable games so I don’t know if I can pick
just one, but I would say, generally, the Pomona-Pitzer games are a
little more special because it means a lot around here. It’s
a unique situation where members of each team run into each other
in class or around campus the next day. I don’t think there
is another comparable rivalry in the country.

You played your college basketball at Cal Poly Pomona.
What kind of player were you?

KS: They say you coach like you played and I guess
it’s true. I wasn’t the most talented guy, but I played
really hard defense, I was a really good shooter from outside and I
could play a variety of positions. I was always put on the other
team’s best player and if I didn’t score any points in
the game that would be fine, as long as I limited what the other
team’s best player did on offense. I was the Sixth Man Award
winner three-consecutive years so I was a sub. I wasn’t great
at one thing but I was solid at most and that’s how I like to
coach.

When you aren’t coaching the Stags, how do you spend
your time?

KS: I spend a lot of time with my family because I spend
so much time with hoops. My daughter is in dance and I coach a lot
of my son’s teams. I run basketball camps in the summer and I
train kids in the community on their basketball skills, so I have a
pretty narrow focus, I’m pretty sports oriented.